Giro d’Italia 2013: The Big Preview

As the cycling season progresses into May, it’s time to turn our attention towards the Grand Tours.

While the spring classics are the action films of cycle races, all thrills and instant gratification at a high octane pace from start to finish, the grand tours resemble slow-burning TV dramas, The Wire on wheels. Each individual episode offers excitement, but it is the overall narrative that intrigues the most, developing over time and moving its protagonists around into a thrilling climax.

The 2012 Giro was no exception, as the tightly-fought battle between Joaquim Rodriguez and eventual winner Ryder Hesjedal built up into a spectacular conclusion in the final weekend, first on the Stelvio where Thomas de Gendt capitalised on a tactical stalemate to nearly steal the race, then in the final time trial where Hesjedal edged back into the lead to claim one of the closest Giros in history.

In recent years, the Giro has shied away from overloading the race with an excessive number of mountains and saught to attract global stars beyond the home favourites, and the 2013 route follows in a similar vein without a major mountain stage until after the first rest day, and Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins on the start list.

For the first time since 2003, the race does not begin with a time trial, meaning that the first pink jersey could well be claimed by Mark Cavendish if he manages to win the flat opening stage in Naples. The peloton will then head south, making up for the lack of stages in the southern regions last year, with a team time trial, a few more flat stages and the occasional inviting hill close to the finish-line, all in the first week.

The first, decisive GC stage takes place on the second Saturday with a 55-kilometre time-trial that looks, and may well have been, tailor-made for Wiggins. Three days later, the peloton enters the Dolomites with a mountain-top finish on the debut mountain Altopiano del Montasio that will confirm which of the favourites have brought their best climbing legs to the Giro.

Stages of varied terrain make up the rest of the second week, until back-to-back mountain top finishes in the Alps to Bardonecchia and across the French border into the infamous Col du Galibier at the weekend, in two stages that will be crucial to the race for the pink jersey. The peloton will then enjoy an easier few days as they head eastwards out of the French Alps, but return to the Dolomites for a blockbuster finale to the race.

First, stage 18’s mountain time-trial will give climbers who are good against the clock a chance to gain time. The day after sees three huge ascents, including this year’s ‘Clima Coppi’, crammed into just 138 kilometres, a structure that could encourage early attacks. And finally, stage 20’s five cols, including the Tre Cime di Lavaredo to the finish line, mark it as this year’s queen stage and the last shake-up of the general classification.

Come stage 21’s celebratory route to Brescia we will have our winner, who, after three weeks’ racing on a difficult and well-balanced route, will have earned a deserved victory.